DRC’s Tshisekedi meet privately with Blackwater founder Erik Prince
President Félix Antoine Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has reportedly held a secret meeting in New York with American businessman Erik Prince, the founder of the controversial private military company Blackwater.
The meeting is said to have taken place on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, which Tshisekedi is attending. Sources familiar with the matter indicate that the two discussed the future of contracts linking Prince’s businesses to the DRC.
Prince, a billionaire and longtime security contractor, already holds agreements with Kinshasa to help collect tax revenues from mining operations and to provide security for mineral-rich sites. Reports, however, suggest that he has also deployed Colombian mercenaries to support Congolese forces in their ongoing conflict against the M23 rebel group.
According to Africa Intelligence, the closed-door talks focused on evaluating next steps following a deal signed between Prince and Tshisekedi in December 2024. Prince is now said to be positioning his company, Frontier Services Group (FSG), to take over lucrative contracts for repairing Congolese military aircraft, a role currently held by Bulgarian firm Agemira-RDC.
Agemira has been maintaining FARDC’s fighter jets and drones while also overseeing a contingent of Romanian mercenaries brought in earlier this year, though they were defeated by M23 in Goma in January. A UN expert report notes that the company is set to wind down its operations in Congo by the end of September, although around 120 of its contractors remain in the country.
Prince’s FSG sees this as an opportunity to step in not only to handle aircraft maintenance but also to train a mixed brigade of Congolese forces. Reports further suggest that FSG is seeking to expand its footprint in the DRC by offering general construction and military infrastructure services—an effort seen as part of Kinshasa’s struggle to strengthen its position against the M23 insurgency.
